Tmux cheat sheet
(C-x means ctrl+x, M-x means alt+x)
Prefix key
The default prefix is C-b. If you (or your muscle memory) prefer C-a, you need to add this to ~/.tmux.conf:
Remap prefix to Control + a
Bind ‘C-a C-a’ to type ‘C-a’
bind C-a send-prefix
unbind C-b
I’m going to assume that C-a is your prefix.
Sessions, Windows and Panes
Session is a set of windows, plus a notion of which window is current.
Window is a single screen covered with panes. (Once might compare it to a ‘virtual desktop’ or a ‘space’.)
Pane is a rectangular part of a window that runs a specific command, e.g. a shell.
Getting help
Display a list of keyboard shortcuts:
Navigate using Vim or Emacs shortcuts, depending on the value of mode-keys. Emacs is the default, and if you want Vim shortcuts for help and copy modes (e.g. j, k, C-u, C-d), add the following line to ~/.tmux.conf:
Any command mentioned in this list can be executed as tmux something or C-a :something (or added to ~/.tmux.conf).
Managing sessions
Creating a session:
Create a new session that shares all windows with an existing session, but has its own separate notion of which window is current:
tmux new-session -s work2 -t work
Attach to a session:
Detach from a session:
Switch between sessions:
C-a ( previous session
C-a ) next session
C-a L ‘last’ (previously used) session
C-a s choose a session from a list
Other:
C-a $ rename the current session
C-a
Managing windows
Create a window:
C-a c create a new window
Switch between windows:
C-a 1 ... switch to window 1, ..., 9, 0
C-a 9
C-a 0
C-a p previous window
C-a n next window
C-a l ‘last’ (previously used) window
C-a w choose window from a list
Switch between windows with a twist:
C-a M-n next window with a bell, activity or
content alert
C-a M-p previous such window
Other:
C-a , rename the current window
C-a & kill the current window
Managing split panes
Creating a new pane by splitting an existing one:
C-a " split vertically (top/bottom)
C-a % split horizontally (left/right)
Switching between panes:
C-a left go to the next pane on the left
C-a right (or one of these other directions)
C-a up
C-a down
C-a o go to the next pane (cycle through all of them)
C-a ; go to the ‘last’ (previously used) pane
Moving panes around:
C-a { move the current pane to the previous position
C-a } move the current pane to the next position
C-a C-o rotate window ‘up’ (i.e. move all panes)
C-a M-o rotate window ‘down’
C-a ! move the current pane into a new separate
window (‘break pane’)
C-a :move-pane -t :3.2
split window 3's pane 2 and move the current pane there
Resizing panes:
C-a M-up, C-a M-down, C-a M-left, C-a M-right
resize by 5 rows/columns
C-a C-up, C-a C-down, C-a C-left, C-a C-right
resize by 1 row/column
Applying predefined layouts:
C-a M-1 switch to even-horizontal layout
C-a M-2 switch to even-vertical layout
C-a M-3 switch to main-horizontal layout
C-a M-4 switch to main-vertical layout
C-a M-5 switch to tiled layout
C-a space switch to the next layout
Other:
C-a x kill the current pane
C-a q display pane numbers for a short while
Other config file settings
Force a reload of the config file on C-a r:
unbind r
bind r source-file ~/.tmux.conf
Some other settings that I use:
If you have vi style key bindings on then the following applies:
1) enter copy mode using Control+b [
2) navigate to beginning of text, you want to select and hit Space
3) move around using arrow keys to select region
4) when you reach end of region simply hit Enter to copy the region
5) now Control+b ] will paste the selection
To enable vi like cursor movement in copy mode put the following in your ~/.tmux.conf:
set-window-option -g mode-keys vi
more over what ever you copy, you may dump that out in your terminal using
and even save to a file(say, foo.txt) using
To see all the paste buffers try Control + b #. To dump out the varios buffers on to the terminal or file you may use
tmux list-buffers
tmux show-buffer -b n
tmux save-buffer -b n foo.txt
where n is the index of the paste buffer.